Posted by Hi all. Thankyou for reading my Ryuzoji Series. I think I have two more parts to finish this series which has been a fantastic research topic. There’s probably a lot more I can add as there is still a lot of info I haven’t translated yet, maybe in the future. This will be my last post for this year. See you next year.
Part 4
Takanobu sort refuge with the Kamachi in Yanagawa. Just as Iekane did, Takanobu, with the support of the Kamachi began to assemble an army of his own. For two years, he worked tirelessly to rebuild his powerbase. He sought many new alliances as well as re-establishing old ones. Takanobu proved to be a very charismatic and clever leader who was able to rebuild his military strength, and now, in just two years led the most powerful army within the Ryuzoji clan. To be honest, although not to discredit Takanobu’s efforts, he had a lot of support within the Ryuzoji ranks, especially from the older veterans who served under Iekane. From the sources I read, it seems though was only a small number of vassals who were misled into rebelling against him two years earlier, he still had the majority of support throughout the clan. Takanobu assembled his army, marched north out of Yanagawa to confront the rebellious samurai in Saga. Saga castle is only a half day walk from Yanagawa, so Takanobu and his army was soon at the gates of Saga castle. As it turns out the castle was not heavily defended, and once most of the defenders realised it was Takanobu, most accepted their fate and surrendered. A few stayed and fought but that was mostly the leaders of the rebellion that put up a short skirmish. The fight was over in a few hours, all of the rebels were caught, pledged loyalty to Takanobu except one who was captured and killed.
Saga once again became the home of the Ryuzoji, but the fighting had just begun. Over the next couple of years Takanobu fought to solidify his power in all of Hizen. His first target was his old friend turned foe, Shoni Fuyuhisa at Seifukuji castle in 1559. Within the Shoni alliance there was a lot of internal fighting and the Chiba clan were feuding with the Baba clan. Takanobu took this opportunity to strike. The depleted Shoni army had no chance, and realising the end had come, Fuyuhisa committed suicide. Once the Shoni leader was gone, Takanobu made quick work over his old adversaries of the Shoni clan. In 1563/4 he came into conflict with the Arima and Matsuura Party who were vassals of the Otomo, although Takanobu was able to solidify his power throughout Hizen. The Ryuzoji’s fast rise to power and Takanobu’s reputation spread throughout Kyushu and Western Honshu, The Bear of Hizen was born. Ongoing skirmishes to the south against the Arima continued and in 1566 Takanobu allied with Mori Motonari against the Otomo. However, when the Mori withdrew from Kyushu in 1569, it left the Ryuzoji on their own against a much bigger adversary.
Otomo Sorin tried twice to halt Takanobu’s expansion, albeit unsuccessfully. A major attack by the Otomo was at the battle of Imayama in 1570. A fantastic reversal of fortune, which may sound a little familiar to those of you who read a previous posts, a cunning plan by the Nabeshima Red Bears secure a glorious victory. Let’s have a look at the battle. Otomo Sorin sent a force of between 60-70,000 samurai to attack Saga castle in April of 1570. Saga castle was defended by about 5,000 Ryuzoji samurai. At the outset, a number of small skirmishes broke out around the castle but despite overwhelming numbers Otomo troops were not able to dislodge the Ryuzoji defenders who, as the Ryuzoji were traditionally very, very good defenders. Otomo Sorin grew impatient and sent his younger brother Otomo Chikasada and, if 60,000 wasn’t enough, a further 3,000 samurai accompanied Chikasada for a final attack. Chikasada arrived in Kanzaki, to the north of Saga castle on the 17th August and set up a temporary camp. Chikasada met with his vassals they prepared for a final attack beginning in the early morning of the 20th. Boredom had set in amongst the ranks of the Otomo weeks before. Over the four month siege morale had dropped so Chikasada’s arrival had given the attackers, somewhat of a resurgence of their goals. Maybe a little too much as it worked out. On the night before the main attack the Otomo forces held a big booze up. For the overconfident Chikasada this celebration would be his last! Ryuzoji spies had earlier infiltrated the Otomo camps there was regular correspondence back to Saga castle and told them of the sake party. A meeting was held in the castle and a high-risk plan was discussed. Despite this risk, Nabeshima Naoshige volunteered along with a small band of samurai to make a surprise attack directly at Chikasada’s base camp up on Mt. Ima.
Under the cover of darkness, Naoshige and his men headed out, linked up with some other provincial Ryuzoji supporters, surrounding Chikasada’s camp and laid in wait. Through the night, more Ryuzoji allies gathered and surrounded Otomo camps. Nabeshima’s force now numbered a couple of hundred samurai. Just before sunrise he gave the order to attack. A big night of celebrations probably left most of Chikasada’s guards feeling a little under the weather and unable to comprehend what was happening as Naoshige and his samurai poured into the camp cutting down the besieging samurai with ease. Chikasada was quickly found and killed which triggered total chaos among the Otomo. Skirmishes broke out all round, but on the whole, the Otomo samurai were so confused that it is reported that they started firing at each other thinking that the Ryuzoji had made an all-out attack. Word spread that Chikasada had been killed and after a long four month siege and low morale Otomo samurai began to scatter then flee for their lives. Mounted Nabeshima cavalry and Ryuzoji allies, chased down as many as they could, by the end of the attack Otomo lost over 2000 samurai. Once again, Naoshige returned to Saga castle with his army as heroes.
End of Part 4.
Written and researched by Stuart Iles.
Japanese History and Culture 
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